Canadians crossing border and buying milk by the gallon (with poll)

Michael V’Inkin Lee, Vancouver Sun08.14.2012

Canadians flock across the border to buy milk in Washington state. Edaleen Dairy store in Sumas, Washington just across the border from Abbotsford does a big business on August 13, 2012. Daley Duncan shows off the goods.

A stronger Canadian dollar plus an insatiable thirst for milk has some B.C. shoppers stampeding across the border, and one dairy business in Washington state has made sure it’s in the right place to meet their needs.Lynden-based Edaleen Dairy intentionally opened its newest shop at Sumas, minutes away from the border, so it could cash in on Canadian customers looking for milk at bargain prices, said general manager Mitch Moorlag.

“We’re a whole heck of a lot closer to Vancouver,” he said.

“There’s a lot of potential customers in [Canada] and businesses in Whatcom county are very dependent on the Canadian shopper.”

A significant percentage of Edaleen Dairy’s clientele comes from across the border, said Dave Dodson, the dairy’s sales manager.

The original shop in Lynden largely depended on local buyers, but quickly expanded to accommodate Canadian shoppers looking for a different source for quality milk products, he said.

“We have a very loyal market of Canadian customers,” Dodson said. “Canadians have been coming down here forever.”

The Sumas store opened in June of 2011 to serve cross-border milk shoppers who would form long lines outside the Lynden branch, said Courtney Oostra, a clerk at the Sumas location who has been with Edaleen for nearly two years.

The new shop, less than five minutes away from the Abbotsford border crossing, has done unbelievably well in the past year, she added.

“Most of our customers [at Sumas] are Canadian,” Oostra said. “We have two separate drawers for money; one is all Canadian money and one is all American money. And we also take Canadian debit cards.”

But not everybody is thrilled by Canadians flooding in from the north in pursuit of dairy bargains. A group of disgruntled American residents and shoppers from Bellingham aired their irritation with the cross-border milk shoppers on a Facebook page complaining about the Canuck invasion of their local Costco.

Business leaders in Whatcom county responded quickly, denounced the page and insisted that the opinions posted there did not reflect the community at large. Moorlag called the page “unrealistic” in its expectations.

“I’ve heard some Americans say, ‘I just want to go to Costco and be by myself when I’m doing my shopping and not have to run into 18,000 people,’” he said. “But if [only a handful of people are] shopping in that store, it won’t be in business very long.”

Dodson also stressed the need for the county’s business community to dispel what he called “anti-Canadian” mentalities that may creep up because of the Facebook group.

“We have many longtime Canadian customers. This isn’t a new development,” he said. “What we’re seeing now is just a combination of a good exchange rate and good border crossings. It’s pure economics.”

A gallon of non-fat milk — roughly four litres — retails close to $3 Cdn at Edaleen Dairy compared to around $5 Cdn for a similar-sized jug at most Canadian supermarkets, including Costco Wholesale stores in B.C. Milk is also exempt from sales tax in Washington state.

A single shopper can bring up to 20 kgs of dairy products worth $20 Cdn or less into Canada per trip, according to the Canada Border Services Agency’s policy on dairy imports. A buyer can pick up six, one-gallon jugs of non-fat milk from Edaleen Dairy for around $17 Cdn — approximately $0.70 per litre — and make it back home without paying extra duties at the border. The same purchase at a Canadian supermarket adds up to a little over $30 Cdn at around $1.25 per litre.

At the Costco in Bellingham, non-fat milk is sold in two-gallon packs — nearly eight litres — at around $0.55 per litre, meaning B.C. shoppers can get away with carrying home nearly 32 litres of milk per person without paying duty.

mvinkinlee@vancouversun.com

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Canadians crossing border and buying milk by the gallon (with poll)

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